Quotes in Favor of JWO

Apostle John speaking in Revelation 19:10 -- in various versions - endorses JWO:

Worship God, For the substance (essence) of the truth revealed by Jesus is the spirit of all prophecy. (Rev. 19:10)(Amplified Bible)

Worship God, For the essence of prophecy is to give a clear witness of the message confirmed by Jesus. (Rev. 19:10)(NLT with alternative text in footnote)

John 12:48

"He who rejects me and does not receive my sayings has a judge; the word that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day." (John 12:48.)

Papias 130 AD

"But I shall not be unwilling to put down, along with my interpretations, whatsoever instructions I received with care at any time from the elders, and stored up with care in my memory, assuring you at the same time of their truth. For I did not, like the multitude, take pleasure in those who spoke much, but in those who taught the truth; nor [did I take pleasure] in those who related commandments belonging to others [Roberts trans.] / "who recall someone else's commandments'" [Lightfoot trans.] but [I took pleasure] in those who rehearsed / remembered the commandments given by the Lordto the faith, and proceeding from truth itself. If, then, any one who had attended on the elders came, I asked minutely after their sayings,—what Andrew or Peter said, or what was said by Philip, or by Thomas, or by James, or by John, or by Matthew, or by any other of the Lord's disciples: which things Aristion and the presbyter John, the disciples of the Lord, say. For I imagined that what was to be got from books was not so profitable to me as what came from the living and abiding voice. (Papias ca. 130 AD quoted in Eusebius, 3.39.3-4 excerpted in Roberts, Donaldson & Crombie, "Fragments of Papias," The Writings of the Apostolic Fathers (T&T Clark, 1867) at 441-42. Cf. translation of J.B. Lightfoot, Hammer, & Holmes, The Apostolic Fathers (Leicester: Appollos, 1990) at 314; cf. earlier translation J.B. Lightfoot, The Apostolic Fathers (Macmillan, 1898) at 527.)

Martin Luther

"What does not teach Christ is not apostolic, whether it be Peter or Paul." (Martin Luther, quoted by Friedrich Bleek, An Introduction to the New Testament (T&T: 1877) at 275.)

Prof. Bauman, 1985

"Supernaturalistic explanations for why Jesus died and how his death saves us, however, largely evade the historical implications of messiahship and discipleship along the via dolorosas of life. ...The emphasis has been not on the didache Of Jesus but on the kerygma About Christ. Jesus’ teaching of the Way of the Cross has been replaced by Paul’s proclamation of the Word of the Cross with the effect that the offense of the Cross has been transferred from the existential to the epistemological plane so that the authoritative command to Follow Jesus has become an intellectual problem of Believing in Christ. That following Jesus is presumptuous and unnecessary is implicit in the logic of most atonement theories. " (Prof. Bauman, The Sermon on the Mount, The Modern Quest for its Meaning (1985) at 421.)

Who could ever find the words to describe the Indescribable Limited vocabulary falls so short of depicting You God Yet I'm distracted, the things of this world threaten to pull me apart But in Your mercy You hear the cry of my heart

(Chorus) Only Jesus, Only Jesus Lord, I'm tired of all the restWhen my heart knows You are best

Come and change, Lord, rearrange every part of meUntil You are all that can be seen Come be seen in me

(Chorus)

Only Jesus, Only Jesus Son of God and Son of Man who Came to destroy the work of sinAnd its work in me was crushed when You became the way for meHelp me surrender and stop pretending that I can live on my own I'll find who I am wrapped up in You alone

Mike Weaver, its author, explained the purpose of the song: "The lyric comes from a place of desperation in the Lord, and it ends with the realization that only Jesus satisfies. Some people treat salvation as if it is little more than fire insurance. This song declares that it is also about having abundant life and [about a] satisfaction in this life that only Jesus can bring." (Gospel Music Lyrics)

Some will say the Old Testament scriptures are no longer valid or important to Christians so they focus on the New Testament only. And then, for many, the focus is on the writings of Paul, viewing the Words of Jesus as almost leftover Old Testament "Jewish" material. Again, we believe such views are out of balance and dangerous. We believe the focus of one's reading and scripture study time should center around the Words of Jesus. Other scriptures can then be properly studied through the lens of what Jesus taught.

Anthony Buzzard, The Doctrine of the Trinity (1998)

[Page 340] Current opinion often tells us that "doctrine" divides and should be avoided. The very opposite is true: doctrine based on the witness of Jesus words is the one hope for unity in the present chaotic division in the churches. The Church appears to have overlooked the core of Jesus' teaching: that repentance and forgiveness depend on the convert's intelligent reception of the Messiah's own gospel about the kingdom of God. (Mark 4: 11-12; Luke 8:12).

[Page 341] The object of this book, therefore, has been to propose ways of believing more accurately what Jesus believed about God and himself and thus bringing our own doctrine into line with his. "The one who abides in the teaching [of Christ] has both the Father and the Son." (2 John 9.) Every word spoken by the Messiah is precious, for the words that he speaks carry "spirit and life." (John 6:63.) They are the only words, in fact, which can guide us to "life in the coming Age," the life of the kingdom of God.

[Page 341]It is misleading to build a theological system on certain texts in Paul's epistles without first taking into account the Hebrew Bible and the Synoptic accounts of the Gospel as it came from the lips of Jesus.

For more JWO-leaning quotations from Buzzard's work, see our extended excerpts at this link.